Creature Handler Methods for Earning Experience Points
Method 1: Catch and Release
Use this method when working alone. If there's a group hunt and your friends are online follow Method 2: Group Hunts.
Step-by-Step
1. Travel to a beginner planet - Corellia, Naboo, Tatooine
2. Travel at least 2000 meters outside of the star port
3. Increase your lower left corner radar (default location) to approximately 256 viewable scan
4. Search for lower level, non-aggro, creatures (yellow dots) and lairs (yellow boxes)
5. Try to find a cluster of at least 3 to 4 lairs (more is better) that are all viewable on your map
6. Good creatures include Durni, Grubber, Murra, Corellian Butterfly, Carrion Spat, etc.
7. If you can find at least one baby in each of the 3 to 4 lairs, you are definitely set to level!
8. You may either go to each lair and mark a waypoint - type /waypoint when standing in the desired location - OR -
9. If you're like me, waypoints are precious space in your datapad, so set one waypoint somewhere in the middle and name it "CHAlone01" you can do this for several spots you find over time increasing the numbers, i.e. "CHAlone02"
10. The big one -- disarm your weapon and start taming (do the basics mask scent, etc.). If the creature turns aggro during the taming process you don't want to hit it with your power weapon and end the chance to earn XP. Simply run away (this is NOT a burst run--the baby is not going to kill you, remember it's a lowly yellow butterfly) until the creature(s) stop following you. Continue to hit Peace and Clear until the chase stops. Often times, you will be able to turn right around and tame the baby 100's of meters away from it's lair.
11. The reason I choose the easy creatures to tame is that I've learned you get no more then + or - 50 points for taming the big guys vs. the little guys, with no risk of death blows!
12. Next, power train your baby using the "CHGrindXP" macro I've listed step-by-step below.
13. Do not store the pet in your datapad
14. Open the datapad, ctrl-d and destroy the pet
15. I like to think of this as the baby returns to the lair to be tamed another day (more like 10 minutes from now)
16. Remember, you are NOT saving these critters, just using them for the XP
17. Move to the next lair and repeat the process.
18. Once you've covered all your lairs, babies should start spawning at the first lair.
19 Start over!
Sidebar: As soon as you level, seek out training. Training leads to additional commands and additional commands lead to more XP per tame. Training 3 for instance gives you the patrol command. However, it also comes with Get Patrol Point and Clear Patrol Point (nice as you get 300XP for teaching the three commands!)
The CHGrindXP Macro
Step-by-Step
1. Press ctrl-a for actions
2. Choose the macro tab near the top of the pop-up window
3. Name the macro (ex. CHGrindXP)
4. Select an icon (whatever you like)
5. Enter the command as /say grindxp
Sidebar: Drag the new macro (it's icon) to one of your free function keys (F1 works well). Once you tame a creature do the following: (for right hand users)
1. Use your left hand to place a finger (in the ready to click position) on function key F1
2. Use your right hand (mouse hand) to select the creatures train submenu
3. Pick the first command you can train (with the mouse) and use your other hand to hit F1
4. Once the command is successful, move to the second command and keep hitting F1
5. Repeat the process until you have trained the pet all your commands (Speed is important here! Try doing it very fast!)
Sidebar: When this process is complete, you will have trained the same command for each action the pet can perform. That wouldn't be very efficient to get results from the pet, but it doesn't matter, you aren't keeping the pet, you are going to release it at that point. Training each command will take at least one attempt and no more then 4 attempts to ultimately be successful. You will learn quickly to work fast on scrolling through the commands and punching the F1 key to complete the training. I can train a pet (dummy commands) with maximum failures on every command in less then 45 seconds! You should learn to do it quickly as well. This method will, without doubt, allow you to level to all 2 stats on CH in a couple of 4 or 5 hour days. You can continue to use the method all the way to Master CH.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Method 2: Group Hunts
Use this method when teaming with others on group hunts. You will earn XP this route via your pet successfully hitting a target at least one time during a battle. The XP is dependent on the level of the creature you are attacking, not the number of times your pet hits or the amount of damage it delivers. Remember, 1 hit = maximum XP. The lower-level pet you use to attack, the more XP you'll earn. I recommend using a minimum level of 12 (maybe a Wrix or Rock Beetle) to serve as your tank in these battles. Lower level creatures will require constant heals and will die often! At any rate, when your pet successfully hits during a battle, you will receive notification at the end of the battle on how much XP your pet has earned for you.
Sidebar: The pet must be living at the end of the battle to get XP! If you're not a medic, buy some pet stims and drag them to a function key to use during battle. They work just like medical profession heals. Keep in mind the trick commands will heal a pet's mind if it becomes damaged.
I received a lot of advice when I started as CH to level 1-1-1-3 on CH. Management 3 allows the CH to call 2 pets at once. However, because of your low skill level on taming and training, your maximum number of pet levels will be +25, meaning that you can not use more then 25 levels of total pets out of your datapad at once. That's why something like 2 Wrix, both lvl 12, will help you earn double XP for each pet involved in an attack. I personally went this route and found it to work nicely! (Wrix1 lvl 12 + Wrix2 lvl 12 = 24 total pet levels). This method will can be costly to new CH's that can't afford a lot of pet stims, so it's a good idea to have a medic friend that travels in your group that doesn't mind healing pets.
So the next question is ... "How do you handle 2 pets in combat?"
The answer once again is ... Name the Pets and Create Macros
The first concept is to name your pet! It will make it easier to individually control pets by giving them names. So what do you need to name a pet? You must be able to teach a pet at least 4 commands in order to name the pet. Pet names can NOT have spaces. To name a pet, simply choose the first command and type something like "Bob store", choose the next command and type "Bob follow", etc. On the fourth command taught, your pet will recognize its name and yes, pets can be renamed by using the same procedure.
Step-by-Step (first pet, first macro) (will use Bob as the example pet's name)
1. Press ctrl-a for actions
2. Choose the macro tab near the top of the pop-up window
3. Name the macro (ex. Bobattack)
4. Select an icon (whatever you like)
5. Enter the command as /say bob attack
6. Drag and drop the new icon to a function key
Step-by-Step (first pet, second macro) (will use Bob as the example pet's name)
1. Press ctrl-a for actions
2. Choose the macro tab near the top of the pop-up window
3. Name the macro (ex. Bobfollow)
4. Select an icon (whatever you like)
5. Enter the command as /say bob follow
6. Drag and drop the new icon to a function key
You can repeat these 2 macros again substituting your second pet's name. Additionally, you may create additional macros for each pets tricks, etc. to fully control the pet via the function keys with minimal typing.
Now for the fun part. I have 2 visible rows of function keys at any given time. The game default is one row showing function key F1-F12. Use your mouse to drag the function key bars downward. If you do it correctly, you will have 2 rows of function keys available. I usually drop bob attack in F9 and bob follow in F10 and the second pet (say Joe) in joe attack in the second row under F9 (accessible by holding down the shift key to access any second row function keys) and joe follow in the second row under F10.
Sidebar: You can send your pet into combat by using the tab key to select available targets (keep hitting it until you see a hostile that is hurt) and then using the mouse or keyboard to send joe and bob in to attack. On hard planets, I will wait until a creature is about half dead before I send the pets in to hit. You will learn on a creature by creature basis when to send and when to call them back. How do you call your pet back from battle? Use the macros on your function keys for "follow". WARNING! a pet retreating from an attack may bring the unfriendly back to you, so be careful! You don't want to anger your group members by getting them caught up in battles they are not prepared to fight.
You'll have to excuse any typos, I cranked out this guide pretty fast today! May the force be with you!
Asur Skywaver - AHAZI Server
Master Creature Handler, Master Scout, (almost) Master Ranger, Novice Pistoleer
|
Subscribe...
News...